The PQ is suspect Lafrenière hold information compromising on the QLP

Archival Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
The PQ is suspected that the commissioner of UPAC to be maintained in position to prevent the leakage of information compromising to the liberal Party.

Charles Lecavalier

Wednesday 7th of February 2018 11:10

UPDATE
Wednesday, 7 February 2018 15:34

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The Parti québécois suspects Robert Lafrenière, to be held in position to prevent the leakage of information compromising to the QLP, a “skid-verbal”, according to the government Couillard.

“Why does one absolutely retain Robert Lafrenière? Is it because Robert Lafrenière holds information about the liberal Party and that it is feared that this information get out? The question arises,” has launched the critical pq in terms of Security, Stéphane Bergeron, during a media scrum Wednesday.

Mr. Bergeron added that he does “not understand” the willingness of the government Couillard to give more power to the Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC) with bill 107 “in this climate of doubt” surrounding the investigation unit. “Admit that it is curious,” he said.

The minister of public Safety was quick to respond. “Well, come on”, he dropped to the journalists who asked him if he was suffering from the pressure of the commissioner of UPAC to advance the piece of legislation.

He called the release of mp Bergeron of “skid verbal” and “gratuitous accusations deplorable”.

“This is not a pressure issue, but a matter of principle. It is necessary to have an appointment process that is credible, independent, competence-based, that’s what the Charbonneau commission has recommended and that is exactly what is proposed in the bill”, he launched.

Bickering at UPAC

Stéphane Bergeron has made these statements in the wake of the publication of a summary investigation of a human resources specialist of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). It was found that the work climate of the UPAC was marked by feelings of favoritism and jealousy.

The SQ says that privacy reasons prevent the dissemination of the full report. The former minister of public Safety Bergeron instead claims that a source has confided that information in the report have been evacuated from the document made available to parliamentarians.

“I can’t tell you [the nature of the information that is hidden], all I’m saying is that we have reason to believe that this report contains information that was not in the report filed yesterday,” said Mr. Bergeron. He had harsh words for Robert Lafrenière, who “has shown more willingness to protect him in the fight against corruption”.

The Coalition avenir Quebec and Quebec solidaire were also requested to obtain the full report of the UPAC and fear that the poor management comes to harm ongoing criminal investigations.